Virtual environments as memory training devices in navigational tasks for older adults.

Cognitive training approaches using virtual environments (VEs) might counter age-related visuospatial memory decline and associated difficulties in wayfinding. However, the effects of the visual design of a VE in route learning are not fully understood. Therefore, we created a custom-designed VE optimized for route learning, with adjusted levels of realism and highlighted landmark locations (MixedVE). Herein we tested participants' route recall performance in identifying direction of turn at the intersection with this MixedVE against two baseline alternatives (AbstractVE, RealisticVE). An older vs. a younger group solved the tasks in two stages (immediate vs. delayed recall by one week). Our results demonstrate that the MixedVE facilitates better recall accuracy than the other two VEs for both age groups. Importantly, this pattern persists a week later. Additionally, our older participants were mostly overconfident in their route recall performance, but the MixedVE moderated this potentially detrimental overconfidence. Before the experiment, participants clearly preferred the RealisticVE, whereas after the experiment, most of the younger, and many of the older participants, preferred the MixedVE. Taken together, our findings provide insights into the importance of tailoring visualization design in route learning with VEs. Furthermore, we demonstrate the great potential of the MixedVE and by extension, of similar VEs as memory training devices for route learning, especially for older participants

Dopamine, affordance and active inference.

The role of dopamine in behaviour and decision-making is often cast in terms of reinforcement learning and optimal decision theory. Here, we present an alternative view that frames the physiology of dopamine in terms of Bayes-optimal behaviour. In this account, dopamine controls the precision or salience of (external or internal) cues that engender action. In other words, dopamine balances bottom-up sensory information and top-down prior beliefs when making hierarchical inferences (predictions) about cues that have affordance. In this paper, we focus on the consequences of changing tonic levels of dopamine firing using simulations of cued sequential movements. Crucially, the predictions driving movements are based upon a hierarchical generative model that infers the context in which movements are made. This means that we can confuse agents by changing the context (order) in which cues are presented. These simulations provide a (Bayes-optimal) model of contextual uncertainty and set switching that can be quantified in terms of behavioural and electrophysiological responses. Furthermore, one can simulate dopaminergic lesions (by changing the precision of prediction errors) to produce pathological behaviours that are reminiscent of those seen in neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease. We use these simulations to demonstrate how a single functional role for dopamine at the synaptic level can manifest in different ways at the behavioural level

Using choir conducting to improve leadership practice

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The impact of sudden events and spatial configuration on the benefits of prior information to situation awareness and performance

Having task-relevant information prior to performing the task can improve performance and situation awareness. This study examined the impact of spatial complexity (apartment vs. office buildings) and the presence of sudden events on the benefits of having information prior to fighting fire in a burning building. Performance of an urban firefighting team (finding victims) and situation awareness (SA) were measured in a lab simulation study. Findings show that having complete prior information did improve SA, performance was better in the office building, and performance deteriorated after a sudden event. However, an in-depth examination of the findings suggests that characteristics of the spatial configuration and the presence of sudden events influence the benefits of having prior information. Copyright 2013 by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Inc